At age 23, John David Laida (in this undated photo) was the youngest chaplain in the Army at the time he signed up for duty during World War II and is a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge.

Written by

Philip Grey
The Leaf-Chronicle

Sixty-eight winters ago, a young Army chaplain was confronting the horrors of war at the Battle of the Bulge.

For John David Laida, best known in Clarksville for his 28 years of service to First Baptist Church, the memories of serving during those dark days of World War II remain mostly unspoken, even to close family.

He chooses instead to focus on the present and future, and on a message that there is a hope beyond the world and its wars and strife, with the power to heal the worst injuries to body, mind and soul. ...